the journey to paid professional performing artist

I am so glad that I went. After all the craziness it caused me, it was worth it.

The only other singing only audition I have ever done was back when I was just starting to take voice lessons again. I put some dance moves to “I Want To Be A Rockette” as a crutch. So this was the first audition where I just stand there and sang and had to act. Any other audition where I had to sing, I also got to dance, which I see as my strong point.

I felt a little like a fish out of water. There are big differences between singing and dancing auditions, at least in my eyes.

1) dress code: Dancers audition in dance clothes, usually appropriate to the show you wish to do. So if you want to be a Rockette, you were tan tights, and leotard and heels. If you want to be on a cruise line, you wear jazz pants and a drop top. So ti doesn’t matter much how you arrive to the studio or stage, just that you look nice. I mostly see nice jeans and top. For singing, you dress up. I think all the girls I saw were in dresses and heels. You look very nice, but don’t dress for the show. Especially if it’s period, that might be too weird.

2) time: Even in the short time given to show your stuff at the Rockette auditions, you still get more time to impress the director in a dance audition. You have all the time it’s taking for them to teach you the combination (so never mark it!!!), plus a couple of times to run it in groups, and then the part where they’re actually watching you perform. For singing you go in, sing your 16 bars, and that’s pretty much it. I think it’s much harder to get attention. [As an aside, I wish I had spoken more. Chalk it up to inexperience. The person auditioning me noted that I was a dancer and said, “So you’re a dancer…” I said “yes I am.” when I think I should have gone into detail that I was rehearsing for Crazy for You right now, etc.]

3) preparation: For dance, your daily classes are your preparation. I’ve never been to an audition where you came prepared with something, though I know they are out there. Improv, yes, but that’s on the spot, and again relying on all that training you have. For singing you have a book of sings and have to prepare a specific one for the audition. I find it more stressful.

That all being said, I finally feel like maybe I can sing. Previous auditions have been in huge rooms that seem to swallow my sound. I always felt that I couldn’t hear myself, I was off-key, stuff like that. And it’s in front of everyone else, more stress for me! But this was one at a time in a smaller room, and my sound bounced everywhere. I remember thinking, wow, I am loud. It was great, and gave me lots of confidence.

Now I’m more excited about doing what I do, and ready to get new headshots. But more on that later…